Irwin Federman ’56

General Partner, U.S. Venture Partners

Irwin Federman is a General Partner of U.S. Venture Partners, a 30-year-old Silicon Valley early- stage venture capital firm. Mr. Federman began his career as a CPA, having been awarded the Forbes Gold Medal for attaining the highest grade in California on his CPA exam. He worked in public accounting before becoming CFO of three successive startups, the last being Monolithic Memories (MMI).

When MMI went into what was perceived to be a terminal spiral, Irwin was named President. The company prospered, went public in 1980 and in 1987 merged with AMD, of which Mr. Federman became Vice Chairman.

Mr. Federman was also Chairman of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association, has served on the Board of Directors of the National Venture Capital Association and served two terms on the Dean’s Advisory Board of Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business.

Mr. Federman has received the Anti-Defamation League’s Torch of Liberty Award and the Brotherhood Award from the Silicon Valley Conference for Community and Justice. In 2004, he was inducted into Junior Achievement’s Silicon Valley Hall of Fame. In 2008, he received the International Business Forum’s Special Achievement Award. Irwin received a B.S. in Economics from Brooklyn College, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering Science from Santa Clara University.